Jolly Good Lives

The better late than never edition, with a fine bloke I invented, tennis in your thirties, and dolphin adoption.

Hello readers,

I have no idea who the man in this painting is, but I imagine he has seen things and been places and probably even fought with great valor in the service of the crown.

It is just a hunch. Maybe it's the uniform that has me conjuring what his existence must have been like, or the gilded frame, or the powder-white hair so neatly combed back from his forehead in a way that showcases his brow, which is clearly a thinking man's brow. Yes, he is a man of letters too, and quite possibly named William or George. When he's not doing whatever important thing he does in the British Navy, he hunts on the weekends with his brother Rupert, who is quite the shot.

Maybe William (or is it George? Did we decide?) has a grand country manor, full of books, and taxidermy, and some maps and ephemera he has collected on his travels. These things say something about him, and when guests come for the weekend, they are impressed. Each night he reads by the fire, with his favorite gun dog at his feet (he is a friend to animals too), swirling and sipping a brandy as he smiles and savors every beautiful word on the page. Someday he will be remembered in a great cathedral for his glorious deeds, because no one is remembered in a grand cathedral for dying in an embarrassing fashion, or for a scandal that shames their children. William/George is somebody, of that I can be certain. There he sits in his study that's painted the same color red as a piece of rubble he found in Pompeii when he was young and adventurous. The red is a lovely reminder of those days, a comfort to him when his joints ache and the simplest things exhaust him. His eyes grow heavy, thanks to a combination of last night's candlelit sarcophagus party, the late hour, the fire, and...this brandy. His dog snores gently at his feet. And soon, William/George snores too.

What a jolly good life he has led.

Writing prompt: Find an interesting portrait of a person and then write a story about what their life must be like.

If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would have achieved nothing.

-- Margaret Thatcher

Endnotes

What I'm reading

Atlanta journalist Lia Picard wrote this fabulous essay for Vogue about the lessons she has learned after picking up tennis in her thirties.

Also...

This feature about how Denmark is exempting books from a 25 percent value-added tax as a way of getting more people to read. I officially love any government that is pro-reading, and learning, and, well, thinking.

What I'm listening to

"This is My Thing" podcast is about the many ways people find and bring joy into their lives. And I love it because the episodes are short, the sources of joy are completely random, and it's honestly just fun to hear some of these people talk about the things that delight them. Among the folks you'll meet are a six-woman ukelele group, a guy who collects meteorites, a woman who teaches people how to sword fight, and a guy who is really into milling lumber. If you need something that will put a smile on your face, well, this is your thing.

Where I hope you'll donate this week

You know what puts a smile on my face? Dolphins. You know what doesn't? Climate change, commercial fishing nets, and jerks who hunt dolphins. Please consider making a donation to the Oceanic Society, which aims to protect my special finned friends and the seas in which they swim. You can also support them by symbolically adopting a dolphin like Chance, who seems to be quite the social butterfly, or Buster, who is a whistling little fella.